Coolant tube



United States Patenti- COOLANT TUBE Roy A. Starbard, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application February 15, 1954, Serial No. 410,269

3 Claims. (Cl. 138-47) This invention relates to flexible tubes and is particularly useful as a coolant tube.

There are a number of different places such as in shower heads, kitchen sinks, and in coolant tubes for machine tools where a flexible tube is useful which will take a set in any position in which it is bent so that a choice may be repeatedly exercized as to the precise point where liquid is delivered from the end of said tube. One device for giving a flexible tube this characteristic is to insert a heavy flexible wire which is untempered and thus takes a set when bent, but yet which is sufficiently resistant to bending so that it retains the tube in the shape to which said tube is bent until a considerable force is applied to said tube to bend it into a different form.

Heretofore the use of this device has been rendered unsatisfactory by difficulties encountered in providing an anchor for the wire at one end of the tube. Where the wire has been solidly fastened to a nipple in one end of the tube the bending of the wire in the normal use of the tube has caused an early crystallization of the Wire at the point where it leaves the nipple which resulted in the wire breaking at this point. Wires have also been mounted on a pin extending diametrically through the nipple. This has been found defective particularly in coolant tubes where the screens in the cooling medium circulating systems frequently fail to screen out all of the cuttings from the cooling iiuid and a diametrical pin in the nipple for mounting the wire tends to collect these cuttings and choke up the coolant tube.

lt is an object of this invention to provide a coolant i tube equipped with an internal wire of the character and for the purpose above set forth which will have a means for anchoring one end of said wire in said tube'which will minimize any tendency of the wire to crystallize at the point where it is anchored and yet do this in a manner whereby the tendency to accumulate a blockade of metal cuttings in the tube is minimized.

It is a further object to provide such a coolant tube in which the wire in said tube can be readily replaced by a new wire whenever this becomes desirable.

The most suitable material for general use in the wire of a coolant tube is copper or a copper alloy of a predetermined degree of hardness and temper. In certain uses made of coolant tubes, however, the liquid flowing through the tube contains corrosive elements which will attack copper thereby making it necessary to replace the wire in the coolant tube relatively frequently because of this wire being eaten up by said corrosive elements.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a coolant tube having an internal set-taking wire made of copper, and which, although subjected to frequent bending, will be highly resistant to attack by corrosive liquids flowing through said tube.

The manner of accomplishing the foregoing objects as well as further objects and advantages will be made manifest in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. l is a diagrammatic elevational view of a pree 2,792,848 Patented May 21, 1957 ferred embodiment of the invention incorporated with a coolant tube and illustrates how one' end of the tube is screwed into a coolant fluid outlet tting and the tube is bent so as to be set with the other end of the tube located in a suitable position for delivering coolant onto work being operated upon in a machine tool.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional View taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and illustrating the fixed end nipa ple of said coolant tube.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional View taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 and illustrates the manner in which the mounting pin passes through the radial pocket formed laterally from the bore of said nipple.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line ffl-fi of Fig. 3 and further illustrates the location and shape of said pocket in said nipple.

Referring specifically to the drawings, the invention is there shown as embodied in a coolant tube 1t) including a fiexible rubber hose 11, a mounting nipple 12 provided on one end thereof, a discharge nipple 13 provided on the opposite end thereof, and a set-taking wire 14 which is disposed within said hose and retained there by mounting one end of said wire on the nipple 12 in a manner which will be made clear hereinafter.

The nipple 12 has an externally threaded end section 15 provided with pipe threads 16, a hexagonal or oval mid-section 17 for the application of a Wrench thereto for screwing the threads 16 into or out of a receptacle 18, and a hollow section 19 having annular barbs 20 for resisting withdrawal of said nipple from said hose. The nipple 12 is assembled on the hose 11 by inserting the stem section 19 in said hose and swedging a metal ferrule 21 about the -end portion of said hose into which said stern has been inserted.

The nipple 12 has an internal bore 25 which extends throughout the stem section 19 and terminates at about the middle of the mid-section 17 in a counterbore 26 which extends from that point to the outer extremity of the threaded section 15.

To facilitate the subsequent machine work which must be done on the nipple 12, a shallow channel 27 is turned in the radially high portions of the mid-section 17. By the use of a special rotating milling tool extended into the counter-bore 26 and then shifted laterally, a pocket 28 is formed in the nipple 12. A pin hole 29* is then drilled in said nipple the drill being centered, when directed by a suitable jig against the nipple, by the annular groove 27. As may be seen in Figs. 2 and 3, the pin hole 29 lies tangent with but exteriorly of the bore 25. The pin hole 29 is preferably tapered and is adapted to receive a tapered pin 30 which makes a iiuid tight iit with said hole when driven into the latter as shown in Fig. 3. The pin hole 29 crosses the mouth of the pocket 28 and lies in a plane at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the nipple 12.

The wire 14 of the invention has a flattened tip 35 which terminates at the pocket 28 in a sharp bend about an axis disposed at right angles to the plane of said flattened tip to form a short securing lug 36 which extends into the pocket 28. The lug 36 is provided with a hole 37 through which the pin 3() extends to anchor that end of the wire 14 on the nipple 12.

This connection between the wire and the nipple is a i'lexible one permitting the Wire to be bent in any two opposite directions as indicated by broken lines 40 and 41 shown in Fig. 2 without setting up an undue crystallization in the metal of the wire at the inner end of the hollow nipple stem 19.

Furthermore, the anchoring of the wire 14 on the pin 30 with the latter disposed outside the bore 25 eliminates the tendency of the mounting pins previously used in such a device to accumulate cuttings in the nipple 12 so as to obstruct the passage of fluid through the nipple.

They exible connection between the wire 14 and the pin 30, by making the hole 37 in the wire substantially larger than the diameter of the pin 30, causes the wire to be loosely mounted in the nipple 12 so that in case any stoppage ofy flow of liquid through the nipple should be noticed the tube Vl() can be shaken manually thereby shifting theA end of the Wire 14 backl and forth across the borei2`5 of the nipple 12 which tends to free any blockf ade formed by tnetal cuttings and allow these to flow between "the wire and the nipple into the hose 11. The blockade is thus freed and thecuttings comprised therein are carried away with they liquid hou/ing through the tube 10 resulting in the resumption of a free ow of said liquid through the tube.

The Inipple 13 has a barbed hollow stern 5.0 which extends into the oppositeend of the hose 11 so as to slidably receive the 'opposite end ofy the wire 14 in said stem. A metal ferrule: S1 is swedgedl about the hose end, in Which thefstern 50l has= been inserted to holld thenipple 13 in place.k

Copper, has. been found t0 be the most` suitable material for the wire 14? in'that it can be provided with just the degree of hardness and'ductility that will cause it to, resist bending, and yet, when bent, to take a set and standup under frequent bending from one shape into another withoutV its crystallizing.v Some of the machine tools with whichV coolanttubes are used operate advantageously with a lubricating oil which is heavy in sulphur and which attacksl copper at such a rate as to requirefrequent replacement of the copper wire in the J coolant tube'.

The present invention seeks to` prevent this vulnerability of the copper wirev 14 used in the coolant tube 10 by applyingA chromium plating 60 to the wire 14 from the end thereof which is attached tothe pin 30 to,y a broken lineVY shown in Eig. 2. The balance of the wire 14 is given a thin coating of neoprene synthetic rubber 61 which overlaps said chromium plating 60 and extends practically to the point where the wire 14 enters the bore 25. The neoprene coating 61 is bonded to the wirev 14, and to the c-hrorniurnplatingV 60 so that the chromium and neoprene completely exclude the liquid ilowing through the tube 10A from contactr with the copper in theV wire 14;.` The chromium 6 0, of course,V excludes this liquid from Contact withI that portion of the wire 1,4`which iscqvered by said plating but not byy they neoprene 6.1-

Wliils fhensoprene seating 61. is shown in they draw in gsas not` being applied to the wire 14 whereV the latter sok avsrto give thelmaxiniurn clearance between the wire 1 4 and bore 25 of the nipple for the passage of liquid therethrough, it is to be understood that under some conditions it may be preferable to have substantially the entire wire 14 covered with the neoprene coating 61.

The claims are:

l. In combination: a flexible hose; a nipple having a hollow stem Which is inserted into one end of said hose to make a fluid tight connection therewith, said stem having a bore the outer end of which terminates in a counterbore formed in said nipple, there being a pocket formed radially outwardly into. said -nipple f rom within the latter, said pocket being located adjacent the juncture of said bore and counterbore, there beinga pin hole formed transversely in said nipple to extend through said pocket on an axis lying substantially in the mouth of said pocket and outside of said bore; a ilexible wire which takes a set when bent, said wire being substantially coextensive in length with said hose and disposed therewithin, one end ofv said wire, being bent laterallyy and flattened in a plane at right angles to said pin hole so that a lug. is formed on the tip of said bent wire end which extends into said pocket, said 'lug having a pin, hole; and ay pin inserted into said pin holes and snugly occupyingvthe pin holey in said nipple so as to remain in place, prevent the escape of liquid through said nipple pin hole, and liexibly anchor said attened wirey end in said nipple.

2. A combination as inV claim 1 inl which the pin hole in said,y nipple; and said pin are tapered and said lastmentioned pin hole extends entirely through said nipple whereby said pin canbe removed for replacing said wire when this is desired.

3,. A combination as in claim 1 in which the pin hole in said lug loosely receives said pin whereby the attached endof said wire in said nipple may have a degree of freedom to rnove for breaking up any blockade of solid particles occurring in said nipple.

References Cited intheE le of thisy patent UNHED: STATES PATENTS 480,749- Stanley Aug. 16, 1892 625,917 Arnoldv May 30, 1899 1,116,868 Anzelewitz Nov. 10, 1914 1,l26;6734 Johnson Jan. 26, 1915 1,504,945 DempseyI -4- Aug,l 12, 1924 2,058,143` Flanders Oct. 20, 1936 2,328,398 Roskosky Aug. 31, 1943 2,544,121 Wolfe etal. Mar. 6, 1951 2,560,8531 Eickmeyeret al; July 17, 1951 2-,640-,502 Powers .A June 2, 1953 2,690,934 Holcombe Oct. 5, 19,54 

